Sacramento County issued an alcohol ban for parts of the river from Hazel to Watt avenues after large, chaotic crowds led to multiple fights, arrests and injuries last year.

This year, the ban appeared to reduce the number of rafters attracted to the event, allowing police and fire officials to maintain more control.

As of 5 p.m. Saturday, only a handful of arrests were related to alcohol and no definitive tally on the number of citations given during the ban, said Rancho Cordova Police Sgt. Lisa Bowman.

"There are a lot of resources out here. The fire service alone has 70 people out here,” said Capt. Bryan Thomson with Sacramento Metropolitan Fire. “Law enforcement has an equal number out here.”

Some rafters were cited before they hit the water.

“You spend your hard-earned money on it, and you’re just wasting it instead of drinking it,” said Jeff Black. “I guess we should have pre-gamed a little harder if we knew there wasn’t alcohol allowed.”

Others believe the ban didn’t impact the fun on the water.

“It’s going to be a lot of people out here. Lots of action out on the water with or without the alcohol so the ban is fine,” said rafter Que Sosa.

“They’re trying to prevent people from getting injured. Lots of people die in the rivers too,” said Nick Ortiz, another rafter.

Aside from cracking down on people bringing alcohol, the fire department also required every adult on a raft to have a life jacket, giving life jackets to 650 people Saturday who didn't have them.

WE BEGIN TONIGHT WE THOUSANDS HITTING THE RIVER FOR THE RAFTING GONE WILD EVENT. BUT IT'S A BIG CHANGE FROM YEARS PAST AND FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ON A NON-HOLIDAY WEEKEND THERE IS A BAN ON ALCOHOL. HERE IS THE AREA AFFECTED ALONG THE AMERICAN RIVER. THIS WAS JUST A YOU'RE AGO LARGE CROWD WITH FIGHTS AND MULTIPLE ARRESTS. THINGS ARE MUCH TAMER THIS YEAR. DEFINITELY MORE LOW KEY, VERY TAME THIS YEAR. LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT IS HAPPENING. SOME RAFTERS ARE RESTING AFTER THEY'VE GOTTEN OFF THE RIVER. DON'T KNOW THE NUMBER OF CITATIONS GIVEN BECAUSE OF THE BAN BUT THERE HAVE ONLY BEEN A FEW ARRESTED RELATED TO ALCOHOL. WHA DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE? A LOT OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AND A GOOD TIME. MANY PEOPLE RETURNED THIS YEAR EXPECTING A REPEAT. YOU SEE PEOPLE GOING CRAZY? YEAH AND MUD WRESTLING, LOTS OF IT. DO YOU EXPECT THE SAME THING THIS YEAR? I HOPE. POLICE TEMPERED THAT FUN WITH BOOZE ON THE RIVER. WE'VE GOT BOATS ON THE RIVER, WE'VE GOT OFFICERS ON THE PARKWAY, OUR BIKE OFFICERS ARE HERE. WE WANT IT TO BE SAFE. THEY ARE HANDING OUT CITATIONS WITH ZERO TOLERANCE. IT'S NOT OKAY TO BRING ALCOHOL IF YOU'RE NOT 21. IF YOU'RE OLDER, I THINK IT'S ALL RIGHT. MANY NOT SO THRILLED ABOUT THE CHANGE BUT SAY IT'S UNDERSTANDABLE. I THINK IT KIND OF SUCKS BUT I UNDERSTAND WHY THERE IS A BAN IN PLACE. THE LESS ALCOHOL THERE IS, THE LESS LIKELY PROBLEMS. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT REQUIRED EVERY ADULT ON A RAFT TO HAVE A LIFE JACKET. THEY HANDED OUT 650 OF THEM TODAY. WE ALSO LEARNED THERE WERE TWO